


A Mistake

by themoistplinth



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Regret, just general angst, pent up emotions, shouting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-23 20:40:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7479180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themoistplinth/pseuds/themoistplinth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith is so sick of how much Lance draws him into bickering. But maybe it serves a purpose?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Mistake

Lance hated Keith; this was a fact. They acted civil around the group and cooperated when they had to, but deep down Lance did not work well with Keith. Given all this, it was no surprise that this never changed, even after seeming moments of bonding and trust and comforting. Whenever Lance felt insecure he would insult Keith, and whenever Keith felt angry he would lash out at Lance, this was how it worked. This is how it always worked.

So when Keith decided to call it quits it was no surprise Lance reacted badly. 

The paladins strode into the control room of the Castle of Lions after a particularly unsuccessful mission as each member of Team Voltron handled their stress in their own particular way. Shiro marched to the controls of the ship and began having hushed words with Allura. Pidge tore his helmet from his head and threw it across the room, moving to sit against the wall angrily. Hunk had begun to eat the stash of green goo he kept in his suit and cracked jokes on the situation. And Lance, being Lance, was blaming Keith.

“If you hadn’t been so late on summoning your dumb sword we would have finished ages ago!” he shot at Keith, “But Mr Mullet has to be a melodramatic brat and tried to play the hero! I bet we could have been halfway to our next mission by now if you’d tried more!”

Keith looked over at Lance quietly and looked slightly below his eyes, “I guess. I’ll try better last time”. 

“Can you believe this guy!” Lance laughed, “He thinks he didn’t-wait what did you say?”

Keith shrugged and continued to not meet his eyes, “You must be right. Next time I’ll try to act sooner. Sorry for messing up”. 

Keith started towards the exit, thinking maybe he could squeeze in some downtime in the training room before they were called to eat or work or rest. Allura and Shiro began to call out to him but he continued walking as the doors closed behind him.

The castle was strangely peaceful as Keith moved through its corridors; no aliens attacked their ship or tested their defences. A welcome calm brushed over Keith and he pushed all thoughts of Lance and his petty rivalry out of his head.

Before he knew it Keith was in the training room trading blows with the gladiator, trading left hooks and dodging jabs. 

“You aren’t fooling anyone you know?” a cocky voice said from the door; Keith ignored it as the gladiator swung its fist toward his chest. He blocked it with his sword and the gladiator flipped back, taking a defensive stance. 

“No one actually thinks you’re this mature,” the voice from the doorway said again, “You’re not as above this as you think you are”. 

Keith turned to Lance quickly, “I’m trying to train here Lance, you should find something else to do”. The gladiator swung itself again and Keith quickly turned his attention back to it. He blocked it again but it pushed forward still, moving Keith back. He grunted in effort as he pushed back, gaining momentary balance to leap out of the gladiator’s way. 

“You know you’d be a lot more likeable if you were just honest,” Lance said, his smirk audible in his voice. Keith swung his sword ion a wide arc and caught the gladiator in the chest. It jittered for a moment before turning stationary, returning to its default position. Keith took of his helmet and swiped the sweat from his brow, shaking his long black hair. 

“Lance can we not do this right now?” Keith said calmly, “I’m busy”. 

Lance sneered, “Oh okay, so now I have to act around what you want, I get it,” he marched angrily into the room, taking off his helmet as he did so and coming face to face with Keith, “Well what if later I’m busy?”

“Then we just don’t argue,” Keith shrugged, pretending not to take notice of how uncomfortably close Lance was to him, “I mean it’s kind of childish”. 

Lance opened his mouth to retort but no sound left his mouth save for a short squeak. He quickly regained his composure and sneering, “You’d know something about being childish, wouldn’t you”. 

Keith sighed and began to walk away, “Great comeback Lance. Always great. Can I get back to working now?” 

“No!” Lance shouted, grabbing Keith’s arm to stop him from widening the gap between them any more, “Say something back!”

“Let go of my arm Lance,” Keith warned but the other boy ignored him.

“Not until you stop acting so strange!”

“Why does this matter to you so much?” Keith demanded, pulling his arm away from Lance, feeling his anger begin to rise to the surface, “You hate me, why are you acting like this?”

“Because you’re acting like you’re better than me!”

“I’m not better than you, I’m just sick of this!”

“Of what?” Lance demanded, blinking back tears (Were those tears? Was he crying?), “Of me?”

“That wasn’t what I meant,” Keith began before Lance cut across.

“Then what did you mean? Was it that you just don’t want to talk to me?” 

“Lance you’re being unreasonable-“

“Oh I’m unreasonable?” Lance laughed bitterly, “What about you? You’re pretending that you don’t care about this at all!”

Keith stared at Lance pointedly, “What do you want from me Lance? Do you want me to say that I hate you like you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you,” Lance began but this time it was Keith that cut across.

“You don’t like me, you don’t hate me. Maybe you should just leave me alone if I’m so unimportant to you”. 

“You would love that wouldn’t you? To not have to talk to me and just forget about me again”. 

“What’s your problem?” Keith shouted, throwing his helmet across the room with a clatter. He was vaguely aware of the gladiator sliding into the floor behind him, not that he cared. He thought he could just ignore his problems with Lance and Lance would let them solve themselves-he was wrong apparently.

“What’s my problem?” Lance seethed, “My problem is you! You always ignore me!”

“How can I ignore you when you pull this kind of thing? You won’t even let me train in peace, let alone give time for me to ignore you!” 

“Not just here!” Lance shouted, “You always ignored me, even back on Earth!” Lance sobbed, “Even back on Earth,” he mumbled again sadly. 

“Lance-”

“Why would you notice me? I wasn’t important and you-you were the top of the class and had a future. I was flunking everything, barely able to fly anything. Why would someone like you notice me”. 

“Lance-” Keith said again, but the blue paladin continued.

“You know we actually hung out a few times?” Lance laughed without a trace of his usual humour remaining, “You and I and a couple other people, all together. Every time you introduced yourself to me”. 

“No…” Keith said, thinking back over a year ago to his time at the garrison, “I would remember if that happened”. 

“See? Even now you don’t remember,” Lance said quietly. Keith heard tears drip onto the floor and Lance let his helmet slip out of his hands. It clattered to the floor and left a loud silence in the room that hung heavily like a winter storm.

“Lance I…I’m sorry”. 

Lance sat on the floor with his arms wrapped around his legs and his face obscured from view, “Do you have any idea what that’s like?” he whispered, “To love someone who can’t even remember that you exist?”

“Lance-” 

The boy looked up and Keith saw his face for the first time since he’d taken off his helmet; his tears weren’t like a movie. They weren’t two perfect streams running down from symmetrical points across his face. The tears ran from the corners of his eyes unsteadily and his face was puffy and red; his eyes were drawn tight as he failed to hold back loud sobs of anguish. 

Not knowing how to respond Keith acted on pure instinct and knelt to the ground, pulling Lance into an embrace. He expected Lance to pull away in disgust and attack him. Their armours pressed against each other was uncomfortable and Keith felt his cheeks searing red from how awkward he felt. He hadn’t considered that Lance could ever have feelings for him beyond revulsion. And he knew Lance before this? He remembered he was a hanger pilot, or maybe a forklift driver (Keith never could quite remember how he knew Lance), but he’d never remembered being friends with him.

_We’re, like, rivals!_ Lance had said back on Earth when they’d found Shiro. Keith had pretty much overlooked it back then but how much had Lance been relying on their relationship? How much of a relationship did Lance think they had? 

Keith hugged Lance tighter and the other boy remained limp in his arms, slowly stopping his sobbing. Even as Lance began to stop crying they stayed on the training deck, Keith’s arm’s wrapped around Lance. Keith thought about what Lance meant to him, beyond someone he squabbled with. What was he? A teammate? A rival? A friend? A missed opportunity?

A mistake?

**Author's Note:**

> I'M SORRY IT'S BAD I JUST HAD A BAD IDEA AND WROTE IT


End file.
